This week’s class was at a new dog park that’s pretty far north. Due to the holiday, the group was likely small, but we stayed away. That particular dog park isn’t one of Lilly’s best locations. We often end up working outside the pen on a somewhat busy perimeter path. And, it’s a pretty long drive to simply stand on the sidelines and play Look Puppies, where Lilly gets rewarded for calmly being near and watching dogs (some of whom are wild).
So, we went to a little family event instead. Not my best idea. See The Daddy Factor from earlier this week for more on that disaster.
Our only other outing came Saturday, when we ran errands in town. I’m an expert at finding the very few shady parking spots at all our regular stops, so with her sunshade and window usage, Lilly is safe and sound … during the times when it’s not too hot. In those cases, she stays home.
We had a weird encounter with a woman when we arrived at our usual walking spot. We’d just gotten on the trail, and we were working toward the squirrel-infested trees. A woman approached and said, “SO, it was YOUR dog!”
She seemed really smug, but I did my best with, “Excuse me?”
“YOUR dog was running loose over there,” she said, gesturing across the creek. “No one knew who IT belonged to.”
“It wasn’t her,” I said. “We just got here.”
“Really?” she asked, like I was lying.
“Yep,” I countered. “My car is right there.” Plus, I added for good measure, “We only work off-leash in public in fenced areas. She wouldn’t just be running around. We don’t even live nearby.”
With that, we turned and continued our adventure with squirrels.
We passed many perfectly well-mannered dogs on our walk. We also came across 2 dogs off leash. I try not offer my warning preemptively. In other words, I wait to see if the dog is going to stay with its owner or come toward us. Both times, the dogs headed right for us. So, I went with my usual, “She’s not great with other dogs.”
The first guy, with the yellow lab, called his dog right away and said, “Thanks for the heads-up.”
The second guy had not one clue. So, his small dog (not sure on breed) did not respond at all to his calls. So, we backed up. It still came at us. So, we veered aside and let the now frantic-guy get between us and the dog. Then, we looped around and past them.
I’m happy to report that Lilly handled it all very well. No growl, no bark, no reaction. She just followed my lead and off we went. Once past, she jumped and jumped and jumped, which as I’ve mentioned is her way to blow off steam after feeling nervous or from being happy.
Other than that, I’ll reiterate a new strategy I use. When it’s empty, we go inside a single, fenced tennis court that’s right near an intersection of 3 paths. I can let Lilly work off-leash, and there are plenty of distractions. But, we’re completely safe.
While squeezing through some trees, headed for the court, we came face to face with a puppy. The mommy said Australian shepherd/Lab mix. He looked like a boxy border collie to me, but he was very cute. I’m happy to say that Lilly actually does really well with tiny, young, actual pups. He sniffed her. She sniffed him. Perfect encounter. Both merrily went on their way.
It makes me sad that I never got to work with Lilly when she was tiny. I wonder if things would be different had I been able to socialize her properly.
Big welcome to both of you. Thanks for visiting.
I rescued a border collie end of feb this year, he is also really nervy and scared of other dogs, but loves to do agility stuff in the garden and is so quick to learn, I will watch your blog with great interest, thank you for sharing.